Singularity
by Arsienna
Summary: Lina and company discover a door to a power that could reignite the war of the monsters fall.
1. Singularity: Slayers chapter 1

**Singularity Chapter 1:**

"**The Cobbler is Safe for the Children"**

"Speech"

Thoughts 

A tired young man stumbled through a bad storm, up the steep and rocky slope atop which stood his destination.

"Why is it-"gasp! "that these mages-"gasp! "always have to-" whew! "live-"gasp!- "%$!ing in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of" – pant!- "a storm in a creepy old castle!"- sharp intake of air! Thud! The young man collapsed. "I could have gone to that other mage who was working on founding a resort, but noooOOOoo. I had to go for the more infamous one on top of mount vertigo where the top is always covered by severe storms. A what was with all those death traps! You'd think he..." The young man continued to grumble to himself as he picked himself up and walked over to the HuAge door that was the entrance to the castle. He knocked.

"You've got 10 seconds to state your business. If I don't like what you have to say then you're going to be taking the express route down the mountain, via explosion spell," came a voice from the other side of the door.

"Um, well I'm here to apply for the job as your assistant," responded the Young man.

"OH good an assistant!" exclaimed the voice. Then much softer, "I've been meaning to get another guinea pig for a while, the last guy didn't even last three days, oh well."

"What was that about pigs?" asked the young man.

"Never mind, never mind, just speak the pass word and you may enter."

"What password?"

"I can't let you in unless you say the password. You could be one of my rivals in disguise ya' know."

"Damn!" swore the young man. What could that password be? he pondered as he shook his head, It could be anything for all.. I...know... his thoughts trailed off as the young man noticed a glowing neon brown sign next to the door. He couldn't be that stupid could he? the young man thought as he stared at the sign, which simply said, "Password: The cobbler is safe for the children".

Well it couldn't hurt could it? the young man thought, then speaking up. "The cobbler is safe for the children!"

The door opened and the voice invited him in. The young man accepted the invitation and entered. As soon as he did the door slammed shut behind him and locked.

The young man turned around and stared at the door for a minute before he sweat-dropped and muttered something about old clichés.

"Well now that you're here let's get acquainted shall we?" politely asked the voice.

"Huh?" said the young man as he looked around entry way, not seeing anybody.

"Ahem!" the voice cleared it's throat, "Look down."

The young man looked down to see a boy that looked no older than 10 or 12 looking back at him. "Oh, and who are you little boy?" he asked, "Do you live here with Magus Proles? I am looking for him."

The boy glared at the young man for a minute before answering, "YOU BAKA!!" the boy whapped the young man over the head with his fist. "I am who you're looking for. I am the Master Mage! The Supreme Scientist! The King of spell hacking and designing! I am Magus Proles! Also known as Lord Giga!" the boy shouted, striking a pose. "And you," he said pointing a finger at the young man "are my new guinea pi- MY NEW ASSISTANT!!"

The young man just sweat-dropped. "Okay if that's true then how come you're only a child? Magus Proles is supposed to be over a hundred years old," the young man challenged.

"Oh that? When I was young I figured if immaturity could last forever why couldn't childhood?"

Wham! The young man face-faulted onto the floor again wondering why he didn't go for the mage trying to found the resort.

"By the way what is your name? I didn't catch it," Magus Proles asked. The young man got up, brushing the dirt off his clothes and brushing his long purple hair out of his face.

"Xellos," the young man stated, "My name is Xellos."


	2. Singularity: Slayers Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I forgot to add this earlier, at any rate I don't own slayers or any of the other already claimed characters and places that come from other anime series, books, video games, etc. the only thing I do own are the characters of my creation.

**Singularity Chapter 2: **

**There's a Hole in the Bottom the Lab**

"YAAA!" Xellos screamed as he got up and planted his feet on the floor. The floor was normally a little cold in the morning, but this morning it was ice, literally. It shocked Xellos completely awake and had the added benefit of sending him crashing into the wall at a good clip. Xellos climbed to his feet, established his balance and melted the floor with a well controlled fireball, and sighed.

I should be used to this by now, Xellos thought on his way to the kitchen, It's been what? Seven... eight months since I arrived here, and every day I've been tricked, or harassed, or the butt of one prank or another despite his several attempts to get the young-looking mage to stop. Some times I wonder if I would have been better off with that mage trying to start the hot springs resort. 

Xellos finished his thoughts as he reached the kitchen. Giga wasn't much one for cooking so one of the first things he invented was, for lack of a better term, a magical food replicator. One just had to say the name of a dish or a certain type of food, and how they wanted it prepared and the replicator would magically make it by using the molecules in the air. So far the replicator worked like a charm and except for a few early glitches it had been unproblematic. Thus Xellos was not expecting to end up as a splotch on the opposite end of the room when the replicator hit him with a pressurized blast of coffee and a giant bagel when he ordered his breakfast.

"Okay, that's it!" said Xellos as he peeled himself of wall and stormed off. A few minutes later he confronted Giga in his study. "GIGA! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! Every #$!ING DAY FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS I HAVE BEEN NOTHING BUT THE BUTT OF YOUR PRACTICLE JOKES AND I AM SICK AND TIRED OF IT!!"

"Your point?" responded Giga without bothering to look up from his comic book.

"How long has it been since you've seen your brother?" Xellos asked.

Giga put down the comic book he was reading and narrowed his eyes at Xellos. "You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"Then you leave me no choice," Giga said as he approached Xellos and started reciting a spell under his breath. Xellos took a step back wondering what Giga was up to. Giga reached into the front of his robes and recited the last word of his spell and through a glinting object and...

Xellos found himself with a face full of glitter and several loud fireworks going off in the room.

"CONGRADULATIONS YOU PASSED THE TEST!" shouted Giga as he threw more glitter and confetti on Xellos before going into a victory dance.

"Wha-" said a stunned Xellos.

Giga stopped his victory dance and sat Xellos down in a chair.

"You see," Giga revealed, "all those practical jokes I've been playing on you over the past few months were part of a test. I had to check a few things such as your level of patience and ability to think outside the box. How well and how long you put up with my jokes were to test your patience. You need that in my line of work. Most of the problems you come across require days, if not weeks or months, to figure out, which is where the thinking outside the box comes in. Finding out about my older brother and threatening to call him was a stroke of brilliance!"

Bing! The little light spell went off over Xellos's head. "So the last 8 months of hell you've put me through were all a test?"

"Correctamondo!" replied Giga, "And I must say you past with flying colors. Most people either leave, try to attack me, or go insane after the first two weeks."

"Why does that not surprise me," said Xellos as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"Well enough chit chat, we're burning day light. Off to the Giga lab!" exclaimed Giga marching off with one finger thrusted into the air.

Xellos just sighed and moved to follow.

"Oh by the way," said Giga sticking his head back through the doorway, "Your next test is to find and easy way to get that glitter on you off. If you can do that you'll be a step up from most sorcerers."

WHAM! Xellos face faulted.

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"So what is my first assignment?" asked Xellos as he followed Giga to his lab.

Giga stopped and turned around closed one eye and brought his index finger up in front of his nose and said, "Now that... is a secret!"

WHAM! Xellos face faulted. "No, tell me. What is it?" he asked.

"I seriously mean that it's a secret, I have no idea what it is either. I wasn't really prepared for it," Giga confessed, "Nobody has ever passed the test before so didn't really bother to prepare anythi-"Giga trailed off as a thought dawned on him. He snapped his fingers, "I've got it! C'mon!" he exclaimed. He grabbed Xellos by the arm and took off.

A few minutes later the two were standing inside the immature mage's lab looking at a hole in the floor... a big hole.

"Now this," said Giga, "is my hole."

Xellos sweat dropped before asking, "What is it a hole from?".

"No clue," said Giga, "Let's take the scientific approach." Giga knelt down by the edge of the hole and plunged his hand in. He felt around for a few minutes before pulling his hand up. "Nothin'. We'll need to probe deeper to find out anything. Here catch!" he stated as he tossed a fishing pole to Xellos. "You've got first watch, just cast a line in and let me know if you catch anything, I'm going to get back to my comic book."

And with that Giga left Xellos there holding a fishing pole. He stared at it for a minute before he shrugged his shoulders and casted a line in. It couldn't hurt, Xellos thought, It's not like this hole is going anywhere. With that Xellos settled down for a long wait.

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Once again Xellos found he was asking himself the same old question, Why didn't I take the job apprenticing under the mage at the hot springs resort? I could be there right now relaxing it up in a nice warm spring surrounded by beautiful women in skimpy bathing suits, but noooooo. I had to seek out the more mysterious mage, and so here I am sitting on a cold, stone floor fishing in some hole that just came out of nowhere. 

TUG!

Oh great now I'm starting to imagine things. Xellos sighed. ACHOO! And I think I'm coming down with a cold, Xellos added bitterly.

TUG!

"Oh great now I'm hallucinating again," Xellos ranted outloud, "Boy is Giga gonna get it. My shift was supposed to end 4 hours ago. I swear if he doesn't show up in the next 10 seconds I wi-"At that moment Xellos was jerked forward and perform a perfect face plant.

"Okay now that wasn't an hallucination," muttered Xellos as he picked himself off the floor. He tightened his grip on the fishing pole and braced himself before he started reeling whatever was on the other end in.

Now Xellos was expecting a lot of things to come out of this hole. Nothing was number one on the list. Perhaps maybe a stray object or two like a rock or a branch. Maybe something even as dangerous as a monster. What he did pull out was not the last thing he expected, but it was not high on his list either. This item that he pulled out just happened to be number 314 on his list. And so as he was told to do Xellos went to inform Giga about the boy lying on the floor of the lab.


	3. Singularity: Slayers Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own them in a house. I do not own them with a mouse. I do not own them here or there. I do not own them anywhere. I do not own them Sam I Am. I do not own the characters that don't belong to me.

**Singularity Chapter 3: **

**The Boy Who Brought Chaos**

As Xelloss left to inform Giga on the unconscious boy laying on the floor a bird that had been perched on the windowsill of the lab took flight and headed out to sea. After catching a brief rest on a passing ship the bird continued on its way toward Wolfpack Island, home of the Mazoku lord, Beastmaster. Not a whole lot worries Beastmaster. She is one of the more powerful Mazoku lords and is by far the most intelligent and sane of the bunch. It is because of this that when her bird brought the news of the boy she began to worry. Luckily she had a contingency plan in place.

"Go," she said to her bird servant. "Go inform the Ancient dragons that the singularity has been opened. In the mean time I need to go pay Giga a little visit."

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Xelloss had searched the whole castle from top to bottom and was unable to find the pint-sized mage. His master hadn't even left a note as to where he might have left to. So not knowing what else to do Xelloss made his way back to the lab to move the boy to more comfortable accommodations. Turning around Xelloss started to head back only to trip over a cat.

"Whoa!" Xelloss yelled as he was sent plummeting to the floor. "Dang cat why are ya always underfoot." Xelloss sat up and rubbed his head. He continued his way down the hall when he stopped. Wait a minute. Giga doesn't own a cat, Xelloss thought looking back down the hallway. So then what was it doi- Xellos was cut off in mid-thought as he turned and face planted himself into a pair of breasts.

I thought Giga said he was going to stop with the pranks, was Xelloss's first thought. Well then let's see how his joke goes on ice. Xelloss powered up a freeze arrow and fired it only to hit air.

"I would advise you not to do that again if you value your manhood," stated a very feminine voice.

"Yaaahhhhh!" yelled Xelloss jumping back to get a better look at the source of voice. He was surprised to see the form of a beautiful woman that was Beastmaster Xellas Metallium about 3 inches from his face. In most cases a man who just found his face full of the bust of a beautiful woman would do one of 3 things:

He would burst into a nosebleed and black out from blood loss

He would silently pray that he would land on something relatively soft after the woman knocked him into LEO.

He would grab a quick feel figuring that his life will end in a few seconds so he might as well enjoy them.

Xellos is not most men fortunately. Xellos took a step back, recomposed himself, and remembered Giga's words, "When you are in an awkward situation with a woman you are going to get smashed no matter what you do, so you might as well keep your dignity." Being true to lord Giga's words Xellos did not take any other action but to treat Beastmaster Xellas like any other guest.

"Excuse me miss but who are you and what are you doing here?" asked Xellos.

"Silence human! I need to speak to Magus Proles. Where is he?" responded Beastmaster Xellas in a tone that demanded respect and obedience.

"Well I cannot disclose that information until I know who you are."

"Fine. If you must know I am the Mazoku Lord, Beastmaster Xellas."

Xellos's eyes widen for a moment before he responded, "Well my highness I did not realize who you were. Well in that case Lord Giga's location..."

"Get on with it," Xellas's voice dripped with impatience.

"is a secret!" exclaimed Xellos raising is index finger and smiling brightly. Giga spoke of many reactions he had gotten from this response; however Xellos had never heard of someone laughing as a reaction.

"Heh. Heh. I like you boy," praised Beastmaster Xellas through a few chuckles. "You are definitely Lord Giga's apprentice." Xellas had cupped Xellos's chin as if to examine him. "Now honestly," said Xellas looking Xellos straight in the eyes, "Is Proles here?"

"Oh well I guess the secrets out now isn't it?" Xellos stated as he scratched the back of his head. "Well since my master is not here why perhaps I can help?" Xellos offered. Xellas just smirked cunningly.

"Yes Perhaps you can," Xellas said.

"So why do you want to see master Giga?" Xellos asked as he poured Beastmaster Xellas and himself some tea.

"I came to stop him," replied the Beastmaster. "You have now idea what he has been doing do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"This hole in the floor do you know what it is?"

"No clue. Lord Giga himself doesn't even know what it is."

Beastmaster Xellas just sighed and sipped her tea. "It's not surprising that thing is almost as old as the Mazoku themselves. That hole isn't just any dimensional passage. It is an end point, a hole, in our universe."

Xellos just sat there contemplating what was just said. "And the boy?" he asked.

"That boy," Xellas answered waving her hand toward the boy who was now lying on a couch in the lab, "holds the very key to ending our world."

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It had been close to 7 years Link had been gone on his journey to find Navi. He had only meant to be gone for a month, maybe a little longer, but not seven years.

'It's all that damn masks fault,' Link thought bitterly to himself as he trotted along, riding on top of Epona. After that whole fiasco with the mask of Majora Link had been unable to find his way back home. It was like the forest kept rearranging itself. 'Well on the upside I've always wanted to travel and see the world.'

The cry of a wolf in the distance signaled to Link that it was getting dark so he should seek shelter and make camp.

"Too bad there isn't a village nearby we could stay in," lamented Link as he patted Epona's neck. "I'd sure kill to sleep in a real bed and have a good meal for once. I'd bet you'd like to stay in a stable for once too." Epona just shook her head as if she was agreeing to what Link was saying.

Off in the distance a scream was heard followed by a roar and a big flare of light.

"That's a human scream!" Link exclaimed jerking his head up. "Hya!" Link cried slapping Epona's rear signaling for the horse to accelerate to a gallop. "Hya! Hya! A minute later the two burst forth from the tree line into a village. Link scanned the area observing the crisis. A dragon was attacking the village setting it on fire. A few of the towns people were gathering around one flaming home trying to get the occupants out, while what was left of the village guard continued to try and ward off the dragon.

Link leapt off Epona and sped toward the home. "What's going on." Link demanded of one of the village people.

"There's a family trapped inside that house, most of them have gotten out but the husband is still stuck in there!" the man explained in a frenzy.

Without a second thought Link charged quickly into the house. He crouched low to breath and worked his through the house checking each one of the rooms.

"Is there anybody in here!" Link yelled. He heard a faint response from somewhere above him. Link made his way over to the stairs. The husband of the family had collapsed on the stairs, part of the upper floor having caught his arm. Link grabbed the man's other arm and yanked with all his strength. The man's arm pulled free.

"C'mon we have to get out of here," Link pressed slinging the man's arm over his shoulder for support. CRACK!! Link looked up at the ceiling. "Oh #$%!!" Link threw the man to floor and crouched over him as the ceiling came crashing down.

'This is just great, what a way to die!,' Link thought, 'I could die in glorious combat against a monster or some other great evil. I could die of old age after a nice long life, but noooo. I have to be crushed by a second floor. I didn't even get a chance to see Zelda again.' A picture of the princess of Hyrule flashed through his mind. 'Zelda," Link thought again with a more "ZELDA!!!" Link cried out.

Time then froze.


	4. Singularity: Slayers Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own them in a house. I do not own them with a mouse. I do not own them here or there. I do not own them anywhere. I do not own them Sam I Am. I do not own the characters that don't belong to me.

"speech"

'thoughts'

**Chapter 4: War of the Monsters' Fall**

Xellosss sighed wearily as he flew away from the smoldering remains of his master's lab. It hadn't been easy to stand up against the master mage. Despite how much he had annoyed him Xellosss had come like and care for his teacher. It only made it that much harder for when he had to destroy him.

Xellosss sighed again as he reflected back on that moment. He would remember it perfectly for the rest of his life. 'That could be for a very long time given my current position,' Xelloss thought. He would forever remember that last conversation with Magus Proles…

Start Flashback:

A golden portal opened up in the study as Lord Giga slid through it. The really-old-but-still-looking-like-a-kid-mage waved his hand over his shoulder and said, "See ya later L-chan. Let me know if you need help with that "knight" thing of yours." The portal closed and Giga turned to face Xelloss.

"Hey man sorry for making you wait. How's hole-chan?" Giga asked.

Xelloss just sweat dropped and scratched the back of his head. "Hole-chan?" he asked.

"Yeah, our pet project, the hole."

"Oh it's gone. It closed up about 2 hours ago."

"Shimatta, L-chan wanted me to retrieve something from it. Oh well I guess I'll have to explain it to her later," Giga responded as he started walking out the door.

"Well I did manage to pull one thing out of the hole, but it was pretty dangerous so I've made arrangements to have it sealed away in a pocket dimension." Giga froze in mid-step. He slowly turned back towards Xelloss.

"That wouldn't happen to be a boy would it?" Giga inquired. His tone of voice clearly stating he wanted a no answer.

"Well what I pulled out of the hole is…" Xelloss hinted.

"Is what?" the pint-sized mage questioned.

"…is a secret!" Xelloss finished brightly with an innocent smile. Giga grabbed Xelloss by the collar and yanked his head down so it would be level with his.

"Damn it Xelloss I don't have time for your #&$#ing games! Tell me what $&#& you pulled out of the hole!" Giga shouted. Xelloss grabbed a hold of his master's hand.

'I'm sorry I have to do this master,' Xelloss thought has he tightened his grip on his master's wrist, crushing it. Giga yelled in pain and released his apprentice's collar. Xelloss still holding the mage's arm hoisted him up until they were staring into each other's eyes. Giga kicked Xelloss a couple of times but Xelloss didn't even flinch. Giga's glare told Xelloss all he needed to know.

"I'm sorry master. You didn't need to get involved. But I believe that this is the right thing to do."

End Flashback

A small tear came to Xelloss's eye as the memory ended. He was forced to kill Lord Giga after that. The battle had leveled most of the surrounding area. Magus Proles may have been one of the greatest magical engineers of all time, but he was in no way one of the better magical fighters. His problem was that because of his child body Giga was much weaker and more vulnerable than normal. In the end it came down to being a war of attrition, a battle to see who could last the longest. Xelloss wiped his tears away and continued on his way. He had a drop off to make.

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"I DON'T CARE!" Dregg yelled slamming her fist down on the table. "If the mazoku get a hold of the artifact they will bring back Shabranigdo. It will be war all over again!"

"And by attacking first we will instigate the war!" Navoc countered, "Don't you agree Saichoro?" he asked the elder dragon.

The elder dragon heaved a sigh. Reports about the death of Lord Giga and his missing apprentice had initially shocked the dragon race. He was one of the few humans who the Ryuuzoku sought alliances with. For as long as Saichoro had known of him he had never known of any human (other than Lord Giga's older brother) more powerful or cunning. His death must have been the result of someone or some thing of great power. To that end Saichoro and the other heads of the Golden dragon clans had launched an investigation. The initial findings of the singularity and Mazoku involvement resulted in the calling of a council of the Golden Dragon clan heads. The last time such a council had been called was shortly after the final battle between Shabranigdo and Ceiphied, when the world was engulfed in chaos.

Saichoro sat in deep thought for a few moments before speaking, "What must be understood here is that it is not a question of _if_ a war with the Mazoku will happen, but _when_ it will happen. On that thought I have no choice but to agree with Dregg. If we attack and retrieve the artifact we can start the war on our terms."

Dreggs sat back and smirked. Saichoro turned to Navoc.

"I am placing you in charge of finding where the artifact is," the elder dragon said. Dreggs smirk disappeared. "Remember," he continued, "despite what shape it takes it will hold great power."

Navoc nodded and walked out of the room. He had some information gathering to do.

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"Ahhhhhhhh," Xelloss moaned as he slid into a hot spring. He had been rather sore, mentally, after his ordeal. Beastmaster Zelas failed to mention that she had completely restructured his body. In order to give him his power Zelas Metallium had destroyed his body and rebuilt it using Mazoku energies. For all intents and purposes he was no longer human, physically. Spiritually and mentally however, Xelloss was. Thus while his body didn't feel the pain, his consciousness did after being ripped from one brain and stuffed into another.

His moment of peace was interrupted by the entrance of another presence.

"Hey Xel you adjusting well," the other presence snickered a pit at his little rhyme. Xelloss jumped in surprise and spun around sloshing water over the sides of the spring.

"Shimatta Aраkoh don't sneak up on me like that!" Xelloss yelled breathing hard.

"You are no fun you know that," Apakoh laughed. He eased down in the spring next to Xelloss. "Besides it's not my fault us ancient dragons are naturally sneaky.

Before Xelloss could reply a loud bell was heard.

"Shimatta," Xelloss cursed again getting out of the spring, "That's the alarm. They found us."

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Navoc and his squad had tracked the artifact to a hot springs resort on Mipross Island. It was certainly clever. Who would think to look for monsters in a place that brought so much joy to people? But it was all in vain. Behind Navoc waiting for his signal was an entire army of golden dragons led by Dreggs. Right now they were doing a flyby. At such high altitude it was doubtful that anybody could spot them, but flying so high was a double edged sword. They would have a hard time seeing their target. However with the right detection spells in place Navoc's scout group would soon know the entire layout of the Mazoku complex below and the location of everybody and everything in it. During the second fly by they noticed an increase in activity.

"Shimatta!" Navoc cursed, "They've spotted us." The Dragon lifted his head up and fired three blasts of laser breath into the air signaling Dreggs.

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Xelloss teleported away to Beastmaster Zelas's chambers. Above the sky morphed from blue to gold as Dreggs's unit moved in. Soon a small cloud of grey met the golden flood mixing with it. The sky was soon filled with hues of many different colors as the combined forces of the Ancient Dragons and Mazoku slammed into the onslaught of the Golden Dragons, magic attacks being tossed left and right.

Xelloss appeared in the Beastmaster's chambers completely dressed and ready to go. In the corner was, what looked like a crystal coffin, but in reality it was a stasis chamber. Inside was the boy. Xelloss chuckled.

'All this trouble over a kid,' He thought. The absence of his master was all the proof he needed to know that the contingency plan was under way. Originally the idea was to kidnap the boy, and hide them out here until they could find a way to send him back where he came from. Unfortunately their base had been compromised. Now Xelloss was charged with the task of getting as far away as possible while the others made a distraction for him; then making his way to the sealing point. They had struck a deal with several humans to watch over and guard the boy. While the boy was being sealed Beastmaster Zelas would be trying her hardest to draw the attention of the Dragons elsewhere. Make them forget about the kid.

'The only thing that would do that is if Hellmaster awakened the shard,' Xelloss shuddered at the thought. Bringing even a piece of Shabranigdo back to life could have dire consequences.

Xelloss cast a levitation spell on the stasis chamber and teleported out with it. The former student of Lord Giga teleported several more times before stopping to rest on a giant natural pillar of stone. Far off in the distance he could still see the battle going over the hot springs resort. The mixture of grey and gold mixed with the explosions of magic spells made it look like a violent thunder storm was taking place just a few miles away. The Beastmaster's priest turned away from the battle to face one of his own. Ahead of him flew the second wave of the attack.

"Hmmm," Xelloss smirked, "Let's just see how much power Lord Beastmaster gave me?" With that he raised two fingers and drew a line across the incoming Golden Dragon Army (1).

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Link had thrown himself over the man, shielding him.

'Something here isn't right,' Link thought to himself. 'I should either be crushed to death right now, or at least shaken up from the impact of the building collapsing.'

Link couldn't tell how long it was before he worked up enough courage to look up. It was if time had no meaning any more. When Link did lift his head he immediately wished he hadn't.

"Iiteee!" Link hissed as he rubbed the back of his head. Well tried to hiss anyways. When he opened his mouth no sound came out.

'It is really quite around here for some reason,' Link noticed. There was no noise what so ever. 'Okay this is really weird. It's like the world went dead. I can't even hear myself breath,' the blonde swordsman's eyes widened at that realization. 'Oh my god I've stopped breathing!' He immediately opened his mouth and tried to take a deep breath. Again inhaling nothing the Hero of Time fell to the floor in a panic clawing at his throat assuming he was choking. After a few minutes of rolling on the floor Link finally calmed down.

'I really should be dead,' Link thought to himself. 'I've been going about 5 minutes without air, so I really should be dead.' It was at that time Link noticed the frozen ceiling in mid-collapse around him.

'So that is what I bumped my head on,' the sword-wielding Hylian thought looking up at a burning beam floating in mid-air a few inches from where his head had been.

'Maybe I am dead,' Link pondered. But that didn't make any sense. If he was dead why did the world seem to stop? Why was he able to interact with solid objects? He had bumped his head on a beam. And being dead didn't explain why the world seemed to be frozen. It was if it couldn't move beyond this one moment in time.

'Wait a minute that's it! _Time!_' Link mentally exclaimed, snapping his fingers. All these sensations he was feeling were similar to when he was moving through time. He had just never experienced the feelings for so long before. Link figured the goddess of time was looking out for him, so he decided to capitalize on this opportunity. The Hero of Time got up and grabbed the man under the arms and dragged him free of the house.

Link took a moment, after the man was safely out of harms way, to look around at the village. It was a strange sight, putting it mildly. The villagers were all stuck in mid panic. Water being tossed in a futile effort to control and put out the fire was frozen in mid air. Flames were steady, they didn't flicker or change shape as they licked the air. The real view however, was not the burning building, but the figure standing behind our green clad hero.

The goddess Tempus smirked as she watched Link from across the street thinking, 'So it has begun, I hope L-chan holds up her part.' In a brief flash the goddess disappeared.

It was some time late in the day. That was all Link could tell when he woke up. Beside him stood Epona, who was lazily grazing on some nearby grass. The Hero of Time rolled over and groaned, his head spinning a little bit. He sat up and took a look around.

'I'm back in the woods,' he thought. He flopped back down onto his back looking up at the sun through the leaves of the trees. 'Was it all a dream?'

#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&#$&

Excerpt from the Apprentice's Diary.

How long has the war raged on? It seems like forever at this point. To think that it all started over a single boy. After the initial attack on Mipross Island Lord Beastmaster and her priest were able to convince Phibrizzo and the other generals the Dragons had declared an all out war on the Mazoku. A piece of Shabranigdo was revived for the first counter attack. Heh, it seems as if Beastmaster Zelas has outsmarted them all. She truly is the most dangerous of all the Mazoku. While the dragons worry about the resurrection of the dark lord the prize that started this war is being moved to a new location, quite the feint. The Ancient Dragons are even playing their part, keeping Galveira away from the Golden Dragons so they lack the fire power to win this war with any swiftness. Indeed this war is a war of irony. It has become the bloodiest war since the world was first formed out of the Sea of Chaos, and yet in the end the millions of lives lost may save the world. As a passive observer this war shall be one of my more interesting observations. I look forward to its conclusion with great eagerness.

Authors notes:

It's been a long time since my last addition to this story. I haven't really forgotten about it. But as they say life takes its toll, please have exact change. With high school ending and college beginning my life has been filled with other distractions. Luckily I am the type who is stubborn enough to plug away at this no matter how long it takes. My friend and room mate is working on a comic book, so my goal is for every page he draws another chapter I publish. Hopefully this will get both of us motivated enough to finish both our projects. By the way Kudos to anybody who can correctly guess who the "Apprentice" in the diary I excerpted from is.

(1) In case you guys didn't catch it, this scene is right before the scene in Slayers Next that shows Xelloss destroying all the golden dragons in one shot.


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